National Boxing Championships: Sanjeet, Thapa, Hussamuddin one win away from entering Worlds

Bellary, Karnataka: The accomplished trio of Sanjeet (92kg), Shiva Thapa (63.5kg) and Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg) stood just one win away from booking a slot in India’s world championship squad after they entered the finals of the men’s National Boxing Championships in Bellary on Monday. Reigning Asian gold-medallist Sanjeet, representing Services Sports Control Board (SSCB), proved too strong for Harsh Kaushik from Delhi as he registered a convincing 5-0 win. Sanjeet will take on Haryana’s Naveen Kumar in the final. Naveen blanked Punjab’s Raghav Chaudhary. Another SSCB boxer Hussamuddin, however, faced a tough challenge from the in-form youth world champion Sachin of Haryana. The defending champion Hussamuddin had to work hard before completing a 4-1 win in an intense semi-final bout. He will fight Delhi’s Rohit Mor in the gold medal match. Later, 2015 world championships bronze-medallist Thapa recorded a dominating victory over Uttar Pradesh’s Abhishek Yadav, winning with a unanimous 5-0 verdict. The five-time Asian medalist will square off against SSCB’s Dalveer Singh Tomar in the final on Tuesday. Deepak (51kg), Akash (54kg), Etash Khan Muhammed (60kg), Akash (67kg), Sumit (75kg), Sachin Kumar (80kg), Lakshya (86kg) and Narender (+92kg) were the other SSCB boxers to enter the finals. Chandigarh’s Kuldeep Kumar (48kg) and Sagar (+92kg) also made their way into the finals with equally dominant victories. While Kuldeep Kumar outperformed Uttar Pradesh’s Ravi Kumar with a unanimous margin, Sagar too comfortably defeated Maharashtra’s Reynold Joseph, when the referee stopped the contest in his favour. For Karnataka, Nishant Dev also booked a final berth in the 71kg category. Nishant got the better of Haryana’s Yashpal with an easy 5-0 win. Gold medal winners from the championships will earn themselves a chance to represent the country at the world championships to be held in Serbia from 24 October to 6 November.